More and more temporary employees are popping up in the (middle) management level of organizations. This development has its negative aspects, says Jaap Schaveling, lecturer and senior program manager at Nyenrode’s Executive Management Development Center (EMDC), whose publications include the book ‘Tijdelijk Leiderschap, Dienstbaarheid aan mens en organisatie’ (Temporary Leadership: serving people and the organization). He speaks about the Professional Interim Management program and about his dissertation research into interim management and the trend towards the temporary employee in organizations.
“I teach about organizational dynamics and leadership, always the combination of the two,” he says. “I have been delivering the Professional Interim Management (PIM) program for about ten years now. This program, designed for interim managers, has been run about twenty times, both in-company and with open registration. The program is not only about matters of business administration, such as making the right diagnosis, but is also about people.
Jaap Schaveling
“In the program, we place a great deal of emphasis on the personality of the temporary leader. That means that intervision comes into it a lot. There is also a module that devotes attention to the manager’s patterns. Why is it that you always get the same type of client when you are an interim manager? Why do you continually encounter a certain kind of problem? Does it perhaps have something to do with you? The program also looks at very pragmatic questions, such as: ‘If an organization calls to ask if you would like to take on a certain interim task, what kind of questions do you ask the caller to assess whether you fit into the context?’” Extensive attention is also devoted to examining the issue for which the interim-manager is being hired, the organizational dynamics that he will have to take into account, and organizational change.
“I teach about organizational dynamics and leadership, always the combination of the two,” he says. “I have been delivering the Professional Interim Management (PIM) program for about ten years now. This program, designed for interim managers, has been run about twenty times, both in-company and with open registration. The program is not only about matters of business administration, such as making the right diagnosis, but is also about people.Jaap Schaveling
“In the program, we place a great deal of emphasis on the personality of the temporary leader. That means that intervision comes into it a lot. There is also a module that devotes attention to the manager’s patterns. Why is it that you always get the same type of client when you are an interim manager? Why do you continually encounter a certain kind of problem? Does it perhaps have something to do with you? The program also looks at very pragmatic questions, such as: ‘If an organization calls to ask if you would like to take on a certain interim task, what kind of questions do you ask the caller to assess whether you fit into the context?’” Extensive attention is also devoted to examining the issue for which the interim-manager is being hired, the organizational dynamics that he will have to take into account, and organizational change.
Temporary leadership and organizations
Schaveling prefers to talk about temporary leadership rather than interim management. “To me, management is about regulating, organizing and achieving performance criteria. Getting a job done. That is a minimum requirement for interim managers, but leadership is also desirable. Then it is also about vision and development, charismatic and stimulating leadership.”
Schaveling prefers to talk about temporary leadership rather than interim management. “To me, management is about regulating, organizing and achieving performance criteria. Getting a job done. That is a minimum requirement for interim managers, but leadership is also desirable. Then it is also about vision and development, charismatic and stimulating leadership.”
He continues: “On the one hand, interim managers are always hired to get a job done. On the other hand, they are expected to take an organization a step further. That is why I find ‘temporary leadership’ a more suitable term.”
The initial results of Schaveling’s research indicate that there are considerable differences between temporary and permanent employees. For example, temporary managers are more easily satisfied than permanent managers when it comes to the support they receive in their work. Because interim managers have often already worked in multiple organizations, they are better able to compare organizations than people with a permanent contract. As a result, they are rather less fearful of new developments. They also have less need to feel secure, and derive their identity from the organization they work for to a lesser extent. “I suspect that temporary managers are a breed apart,” Schaveling says.
The trend towards the temporary is an issue that relates to organizations in general, not just to interim managers, he states. “It is a social phenomenon. Organizations are being changed by it. What kind of organization are you left with these days if employees fly in and out like pigeons at a roost?” According to Schaveling, the real consequences of hiring in temporary workers on organizations are frequently unrecognized.
“Many managers do not appreciate that employing numerous temporary staff can also have negative side effects. If you hire a temporary manager with a specific task, people with permanent contracts learn, for example, not to carry out that task themselves. They may also get the feeling that the management does not regard them as suitable for that task. It gives a certain signal.” According to Schaveling’s research data, permanent employees are therefore not always positive about temporary employees. “Where many people are hired in, both the permanent and the temporary employees report that the organization’s innovative capacity declines; the same applies to performance and the health of the employees.” We also have to keep an eye on the rest of the organization in order to identify the negative effects of temporary employment and then neutralize these effects. He says that he is now studying whether there is a certain tipping point (a percentage of the total workforce) at which the advantages of temporary employees are cancelled out by the disadvantages. “We don’t yet know the precise point. But with 30 percent temporary employees, you can be sure that it will go wrong,” he says. In addition, he is doing research for a dissertation on what makes an interim manager successful.
Socio-psychological aspects
Schaveling relates that he has become increasingly interested in the socio-psychological aspects associated with temporary appointments, both for the manager himself and for the organization. For example, he cites psychological security among employees, psychological contact, support for employees and concerned relationships between co-workers, all of which are very important to the performance, innovative capacity, and so on of organizations. There should be much more attention paid to the organizational psychology aspect in organizations and to education.
“At business schools, even at Nyenrode, there is still too little attention given to such things as unconscious processes in organizations.”
Schaveling relates that he has become increasingly interested in the socio-psychological aspects associated with temporary appointments, both for the manager himself and for the organization. For example, he cites psychological security among employees, psychological contact, support for employees and concerned relationships between co-workers, all of which are very important to the performance, innovative capacity, and so on of organizations. There should be much more attention paid to the organizational psychology aspect in organizations and to education.
“At business schools, even at Nyenrode, there is still too little attention given to such things as unconscious processes in organizations.”
Temporary employment and crisis
“I think the current crisis has a lot of positive sides as well as negatives,” says Schaveling. “It makes people realistic again. If all goes well, it will lead to a shake-out of bad management, or management that only looks to shareholder value, the short term and its own interests. Although I am still waiting for that to happen. We need leadership that is not so much egocentric or ethnocentric as ‘worldcentric’, but that is in rather short supply.” Until recently, we saw an increasing trend towards the temporary employee placed in (middle) management within organizations.
Schaveling: “As I said earlier, having a large ratio of temporary employees is very disadvantageous for organizations when it comes to performance, innovation and people’s health. Because of the crisis, many organizations are now forced to radically reduce their pool of temporary employees and to use it in a much more realistic and responsible way. That is a good development.”
“I think the current crisis has a lot of positive sides as well as negatives,” says Schaveling. “It makes people realistic again. If all goes well, it will lead to a shake-out of bad management, or management that only looks to shareholder value, the short term and its own interests. Although I am still waiting for that to happen. We need leadership that is not so much egocentric or ethnocentric as ‘worldcentric’, but that is in rather short supply.” Until recently, we saw an increasing trend towards the temporary employee placed in (middle) management within organizations.
Schaveling: “As I said earlier, having a large ratio of temporary employees is very disadvantageous for organizations when it comes to performance, innovation and people’s health. Because of the crisis, many organizations are now forced to radically reduce their pool of temporary employees and to use it in a much more realistic and responsible way. That is a good development.”
Schaveling continues: “The crisis has made us put both feet firmly on the ground again. We have to put people first. I don’t mean we have to pamper them, but we have to enter into a businesslike relationship in which people feel secure and supported. In times of crisis, that is especially important.”
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